Month: September 2016

Miss Seeton decides to take a jaunt up to London on a beautiful sunny day, to gather some art supplies, some gifts for friends and a visit to an art gallery or two. Only to get caught in a storm and arrested as a thief.

Only she can inadvertently get herself involved with pickpockets, hotel jumpers, forgeries, pigeons and car chases through the streets of London and Ashford!

Another fun romp in the world of Miss Emily D. Seeton, which will have you laughing and shaking your head at the same time!

4 Stars****

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Miss Seeton accused! The kindly Miss Seeton? A thief? A preposterous notion – until the lovable spinster mistakes tomato ketchup for blood . . . and the “wounded” man she’s trying to help is robbed by a pickpocket. In a flurry of confusion, Mis Seeton is accused of being the thief’s accomplice! And in the hands of the London police, our unlikely jailbird uncovers a veritable nest of crime . . .

Serene amidst every kind of skullduggery, this eccentric English spinster steps in where Scotland Yard stumbles, armed with nothing more than her sketchpad and umbrella!

There’s a fire-starter at work in the Ashford/Plummergen area …Plummergen, means that Seeton woman, which has Superintendent Brinton pulling his hair out.

The village of Plummergen is afire with muster over the annual Best Kept Village Competition, and want to win it over their neighbouring rival Murreystone. Sir George Colveden takes before pictures and ask Miss Seeton to draw pictures of what she thinks the village should look like.

Yet, like all Miss Seeton’s drawings, there is more in them than meets the eye, and Ashford police ask Chief Superintendent Delphick and Sergeant Bob Ranger to come down and decipher them.

Another fun read full of fire, murder and mayhem…with a splash of Miss Emily D. Seeton right in the middle of it!

4 Stars****

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Plummergen village folk are keen as mustard to beat neighbouring Murreystone and win the Best Kept Village competition. Art teacher Miss Seeton is asked to create some Before and After pictures, showing residents of The Street how to improve the look of their houses. Yet one of her sketches is worrying, showing her own cottage, Sweetbriars, amidst billowing smoke, all too reminiscent of the current spate of murderous arson being investigated. Then another, that looks at first like a cosy Wind in the Willows scene seems to hint at something very dark lurking in the shadows . . .

Serene amidst every kind of skulduggery, this eccentric English spinster steps in where Scotland Yard stumbles, armed with nothing more than her sketchpad and umbrella!

Thomas is called to the presence of Queen Victoria, and asked to look into the friendship of a man that she doesn’t approve of her eldest son and heir Edward, the Prince of Wales. She had previously entrusted this mission to her close friend and confidante, John Halberd, only before he could report back, he is found dead in a row boat on the Serpentine. The Queen asks Pitt to investigate and answer only to her.

The death has been ruled an accident, but when Pitt looks closely, it seems unlikely.

Now that Pitt is investigating a murder, and he must look into it for the Queen. But nasty rumours have been spread about Halberd, and he needs to find out which are truths and which are lies. But this is high society, and Pitt does not fit in well with it. With his close friend Narraway and Aunt Vespasia away travelling Europe, he has nobody to turn to…not even Charlotte.

But Charlotte’s no fool and can see that her husband needs her help. So with the help of her sister Emily, they tour the salons of high society gleaning information that Thomas can use.

But the information that turns up proves there is more going on than just murder…information that can ruin the royal house and the Empire!

It been a very long time since I have read any of the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt books, and I will now be going back to read earlier books in the series.

Enjoyable, well written and artfully plotted mystery from Anne Perry.

4 Stars****

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London, 1899: Head of Special Branch Commander Thomas Pitt is summoned to Buckingham Palace.

In the twilight of her years, Queen Victoria is all too aware that the Prince of Wales will soon inherit her empire and must be beyond reproach. She tells Pitt she tasked her close friend and confidante, John Halberd, with investigating the Prince’s friends, specifically Alan Kendrick, a wealthy playboy and betting man, but before he could report back, Halberd was found dead in a rowing boat on the Serpentine.

The death has been ruled an unfortunate accident and the investigation closed, but the Queen is not convinced that all is as it seems and tasks Pitt with finding the truth.

Forced to act alone in this most sensitive of investigations, Pitt finds himself embroiled in a plot that threatens not only the reputations of men, but also the safety and reputation of the Empire. . .

Miss Seeton is at it again, armed only with her sketch pad and brolly.

With a small group robbing the lonely elderly (for the most part) with the aid of sleeping tablets induced sherry, they have been successful in evading the police in several counties. Who have aptly named them, The Sherry Gang. Have now descended on the Plummergen area.

Also happening at the same time in that area, is a gang of highway robbers targeting tour coaches.

Superintendent Brinton decides to ask Miss Seeton to do some sketches for him. But can not make head nor tail of them. Finally calling in Chief Superintendent Delphick (The Oracle) to help decipher them.

The chase is on to capture both gangs, through the Kent countryside.

Another delightfully fun romp for Miss Emily D. Seeton. Just what you need to read as the nights draw in.

Love this series.

4 Stars****

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A positive crime wave has descended on Miss Seeton’s peaceful home village of Plummergen. There’s the Sherry Gang, who go round offering to help old folk with their shopping then ply them with drugged booze and rob them. And a return to olden times with the Dick Turpin robberies – coaches of people held up on the highway and told to “Stand and deliver!”

When the Battling Brolly tries to help the police by creating some of her famous sketches she seems to hint at a connection between the gangs – but what? If only Chief Superintendent Delphick can work out the subconscious clue behind Miss Ess’s cryptic cartoons.

Serene amidst every kind of skulduggery, this eccentric English spinster steps in where Scotland Yard stumbles, armed with nothing more than her sketchpad and umbrella!

What do you do when you are a poet and crave adventure? You go to Oxford, as Richard Cadogan does.

After getting stranded at a railway station just outside Oxford very late in the evening. Cadogan decides to make his way into Oxford on foot. Getting a lift from a lorry driver to the edge of Oxford, Cadogan stumbles on a open door at a Toyshop and a dead body inside.

After being knocked out and locked in a cupboard, Cadogan escapes to inform the police of the crime…only no toyshop and no dead body!

Accused of theft, and chased through the streets of Oxford. Cadogan finds shelter in his old college grounds and his old class mate Gervase Fen’s study.

Gervase likes nothing better than a good mystery. So the chase for a murderer is on!

The Moving Toyshop is the classic murder mystery from the pen of Edmund Crispin, and a must read for anyone who likes the older murder/mysteries.

After an eventful train journey, Cadogan arrives in Oxford late at night only to realise that he has forgotten the exact address of his stay. Relying on a distant memory of the place he boarded in years ago he accidentally enters a toyshop where, to his surprise and fright, he finds the dead body of a woman. Knocked out and locked in the store room, Cadogan emerges to find that the body is gone and the toyshop has turned inexplicably into a grocery shop. Luckily for the puzzled poet his old university friend Gervase Fen is there, ready to plunge into the midst of this mystery.

And the lives of 3 women on that journey that become friends. Each hiding a secret within themselves.

One running away from her husband. The second heading to an uncertain future in the Middle East. And the third trying to escape a failed marriage, the divorce and ex-husbands forthcoming marriage to the woman who was his mistress.

A spellbinding story. Using factual events of 2 of the women (for the most part) with a beautiful fictional story interwoven…brings the story to life.

Loved it. With beautiful imagery seen through the storyteller in the novels eyes.

5 Stars*****

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Hoping to make a clean break from a fractured marriage, Agatha Christie boards the Orient Express in disguise. But unlike her famous detective Hercule Poirot, she can’t neatly unravel the mysteries she encounters on this fateful journey.

Agatha isn’t the only passenger on board with secrets. Her cabinmate Katharine Keeling’s first marriage ended in tragedy, propelling her toward a second relationship mired in deceit. Nancy Nelson—newly married but carrying another man’s child—is desperate to conceal the pregnancy and teeters on the brink of utter despair. Each woman hides her past from the others, ferociously guarding her secrets. But as the train bound for the Middle East speeds down the track, the parallel courses of their lives shift to intersect—with lasting repercussions.

Filled with evocative imagery, suspense, and emotional complexity, The Woman on the Orient Express explores the bonds of sisterhood forged by shared pain and the power of secrets.

Miss Seeton is joining Sir George and Lady Colveden and friends on a cruise, taking in the sights of Venice and the Greek islands, with guest speakers on antiquities…one speaker is Sir Wormelow Tump, friend of Miss Seeton and the Colveden’s.

Another is the TV personality Adrian Witley, who is in a legal row with Ferencz Szabo/Frank Taylor over the authenticated bust of Homer, which Witley says is genuine and Szabo says is fake.

After a couple of accidents happening to Szabo/Taylor, which Miss Seeton’s trusted brolly helps to prevent.

Adrian Witley is found beaten to death in his cabin and someone attacks Miss Seeton and her drawings are stolen.

Sir George and Miss Seeton call for the help of Chief Superintendent Delphick to come to their aid in the Greek islands.

With brolly and drawings can Miss Seeton help find the culprit?

Another fun Miss Seeton mystery to keep you entertained.

Love this series and I’m very glad to get the opportunity to revisit with Heron Carvics fun characters.

5 Stars*****

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Lucky Miss Seeton is thrilled to be ‘awarded’ a luxury cruise from Venice to the Greek islands, for her services as official artist to Scotland Yard. But also on the good ship Eurydice are her friends, Sir George and Lady Emily Colveden, who know all about Miss S’s talent for tripping up wrongdoers. And by coincidence of course, there are a couple of well-known warring art experts, one of whom soon ends up dead.

This voyage is heading into stormy waters, but by the crook of her brolly Miss S untangles the truth and brings them all safely into harbour.

Serene amidst every kind of skulduggery, this eccentric English spinster steps in where Scotland Yard stumbles, armed with nothing more than her sketchpad and umbrella!

Jack West Jr and Professor Max T. Epper are visiting the Sackler Wing of the New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art with special permission to view and x-ray a brick in the Temple of Dendur, that was donated to the USA by the Egyptian government. On Christmas Eve of all times!

Just when Jack is getting a picture of a knife inside the brick, a fire alarm is set off and the building is evacuated for the fire service to secure the building.

Only when a young boy mentions that the F.D.N.Y 17 fire truck isn’t right, does Jack get suspicious and sends Max inside to check on the brick.

When one of the ‘firemen’ realises that Jack has twigged, they try to make a speedy escape on the icy road. The ice gives Jack the chance to grab hold of the rear of the truck…for a very bumpy and dangerous ride through New York’s streets!

A great short story to wet the appetite for the 4th Jack West Jr novel ‘The Four Legendary Kingdoms’ out in November 2016.

5 Star*****

This e-book exclusive.

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An e-book-exclusive short story from bestselling author Matthew Reilly featuring Jack West Jr, before he returns in a new adventure The Four Legendary Kingdoms

Late on Christmas Eve, decorated SAS officer and Egyptologist Jack West Jr is about to make a discovery that could rewrite history.

In the ancient Temple of Dendur, housed in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, a legendary weapon has lain hidden for millennia.

But Jack is not the only person who knows about the artifact’s existence. As Jack examines the temple in the deserted museum, he is watched by a mysterious figure. A man intent on stopping him at any cost.

When a notoriously stern judge receives letters threatening the life of his up and coming tennis star daughter Trish Thumper, Scotland Yard and Inspector Delphic are called in.

And it just happens that Judge Thumper is friends with the Colveden’s, having been to school with Sir George Colveden. And it is arranged that his daughter will go and stay with them under Sir George’s protective arm.

What with threats and church robberies and being Plummergen, Miss Seeton isn’t far from the chaos and mayhem that seems to pursue her!

Another fun, tongue-in-cheek outing for Miss Emily D. Seeton with her trusted brolly will keep you enthralled and entertained.

5 Stars*****

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A sunny summer’s day at the Hurlingham Club resounds to the thwack of ball on racket, as Britain’s young hopeful, the splendidly named Trish Thumper, seems likely to knock out her American opponent. Yet not all the eyes following Trish’s strokes belong to tennis fans – it soon emerges that her father, the notoriously stern Judge William Thumper, has made an enemy who will stop at little to harm him and his daughter.

But the wrongdoers have reckoned without artistic sleuth Miss Emily Seeton, who in a series of apparently mistimed shots with torch and umbrella, defeats them game, set and match.

Serene amidst every kind of skulduggery, this eccentric English spinster steps in where Scotland Yard stumbles, armed with nothing more than her sketchpad and umbrella!

TJ Jensen is juggling her job as a coach at the high school, working at the family lakeside resort and bringing up 2 very young half-sisters. She really could have done without finding her good friend Zackary Collins dead in his favourite chair.

But looking over the scene of where he died, things look out of place to TJ. But the handsome new deputy in town, closes the case as a natural death, without to her answering the “how” or “why”.

So TJ sets out to find the answers. Along the way picking up puzzles that Zackary has left for her to solve.

I really enjoyed this exciting new mystery series featuring TJ Jensen. With a great set of characters. Well plotted and written. And even brought a tear to my eye at one point (or it must have been a speck of dust making them water!)

Will be planning on reading more of this series.

5 Stars*****

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Between volunteering for the annual pumpkin festival and coaching her girls to the state soccer finals, high school teacher Tj Jensen finds her good friend Zachary Collins dead in his favorite chair. When the handsome new deputy closes the case without so much as a “why” or “how,” Tj turns her attention from chili cook-offs and pumpkin carving to complex puzzles, prophetic riddles, and a decades-old secret she seems destined to unravel.